Monday, 14 October 2013

Raptor rumble

With good numbers of tired, mal-nourished and dehydrated, slow-moving passerines all over the decks it rarely takes long for the passage raptors to notice this floating slow-food takeaway! Over the last few days I have observed 3 kestrels, 4 red-footed falcons and a single sparrowhawk cause mayhem through the ranks of chaffinches, pied wagtails, redstarts and red-breasted flycatchers. Unfortunately the RBF's seem to be the preferred prey item of the sparrowhawk that has been resident for 5 days and undertakes at least 3 or 4 successful hunting sorties every day! 
red-footed falcon (juvenile/1st winter)
Contrary to the ample food supply available, the sparrowhawk and one of the kestrels decided to have an aerial altercation concerning the ownership of one of the menu items- in this case I was not sure of the ID but it was certainly an LBJ to go!
kestrel (upper) and sparrowhawk
sparrowhawk on top!
red-footed falcon (juv/1st winter)
sparrowhawk
red-footed falcon (juv/1st winter)
red-footed falcon- at speed!  (juv/1st winter)
sparrowhawk
red-footed falcon

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2 comments:

  1. JRandSue16 October 2013 at 11:20

    Outstanding Images,brilliant Blog.

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    Replies
    1. Andy Williams17 October 2013 at 15:54

      Many thanks for the compliments- glad you enjoy the photos! Hopefully more to follow with plenty of migration ongoing here, cheers, Andy

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